Coach Kim Pan-Gon hailed a battling display from South China as Guy Ambassa's injury-time strike against Al Kuwait left the Hong Kong champions in a strong position to reach the AFC Cup final. The defender's effort restricted the home side to a 2-1 win in today's semi-final first leg.

Goals from Abdulla Marzooqi and Ismail Al Ajmi in the second half looked to have put a major dent in South China's hopes of becoming the first team from Hong Kong to reach the AFC Cup final. But in the first minute of stoppage time, Ambassa capitalised on a defensive lapse from Al Kuwait to leave South China only needing a 1-0 win in next week's second leg, a feat they achieved in the last eight after losing the first leg against Neftchi 5-4 in Uzbekistan.

"In general, it is not a bad result for us as there is still a second half in Hong Kong," said Kim. We are confident that we can come back, especially considering a 1-0 win can send us through. I'm happy with our performance as the team fully implemented what I have asked from them throughout the 90 minutes of the game."

Meanwhile, Al Kuwait coach Mohamad Abdulla was left to rue his side's inability to convert a dominant first-leg display and a string of chances into a more substantial advantage. "It's disappointing we couldn't score from the chances that we had and on top of that, we lost our concentration in the last minutes and South China scored an important goal," he said.

"I guess the result is good for us but we must be cautious when we play in Hong Kong and our team must be ready." In the other semi-final Vietnamese champions Binh Duong claimed a home 2-1 win against Syrian counterparts Al Karamah at the Binh Duong Stadium.